Maritime & International Law CLE

Paul Sterbcow, chair of the Maritime and International Law Committee, offered an updated on the status of MDL 2179 and the cases not included in the BP settlement at a CLE held on Thursday, July 31, 2014. There are five categories of the non-settled claimants: local governments/municipalities/agencies/taxing authorities, state governments, the USA, excluded claimants such as OPA test claimants, and opt outs. Of these, the USA, OPA test claimants, and the state of Alabama have management orders in place and discovery has begun. The USA v BP trial to determine Clean Water Act fines and penalties begins on January 20, 2015. Additionally, Mr. Sterbcow discussed the OPA test cases intended to allow the court to define/create a test for causation for pure economic losses under sec. 2702 of OPA which will apply to all loss claims under this section. The OPA Test case scheduling order is MDL 2170 record document 12972.

Nominations are currently being accepted for the Distinguished Maritime Lawyer Award. The deadline to submit a nomination is August 15th. For information, click here.